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Wednesday, May 18, 2011

Sneaky Spinach Sorbet

So I never really meant to introduce her to ice cream. I mean, it is loaded with sugar, saturated fats, artificial flavors, colors and all things unhealthy. I was sure that, on my watch, my little angel would not become a junk-food eating statistic.

But then came the birthday parties, the play-dates and the overall fear that my daughter would someday be sniffling in her therapist's office because she never got to eat at Ben & Jerry's. I knew there had to be a happy medium.

I began reading labels, and found a few brands of ice cream that weren't that bad. She had her first little ice cream cone when she was about two years old. And since, she's become serious about her love for the creamy confection. Due to her blissful relationship with ice cream - I had to come up with a recipe that would completely justify my occasional tendency to bribe her with food and one that would taste good enough to fool her.

This one is a keeper. Not only does my daughter like "green ice cream," but I can feel like a good mom when I feed it to her ten month old baby brother as well. Check out the ingredient list:
Sneaky Spinach Sorbet
Ingredients:

Put all the ingredients into a food processor and pulverize it. I let mine go for a full minute and then check for any chunks. Process it again if there are still any frozen chunks of pineapple.
Then serve it right away and store the rest in the freezer.

Note: When completely frozen - this sorbet is rock-hard. So when I use this after it has been frozen, I put it in the fridge for a few hours - or on the counter top for about 20 minutes.

-Amanda Wynant is a freelance writer and mother of two babies who were diapered exclusively in cloth. She writes about cooking sustainably and publishes original recipes at http://www.foodloversdiary.blogspot.com

"I mean, it is loaded with sugar, saturated fats, artificial flavors, colors and all things unhealthy."

Ok, I can very much relate to this. I will make my own ice cream in my ice cream maker versus buying the junk in the store because of artificial ingredients. However, I would urge you to rethink using coconut milk in your "ice cream" recipe based on your desire to avoid sugar and saturated fats. Mainly saturated fats. Coconut milk is VERY high in saturated fat. 1C of coconut milk is 254% of your daily value of saturated fat; 1C of whole milk is 23%. Cup to cup, you're looking at a similar amount of carbohydrates so there's no real savings there*. While your recipe sounds like a great once-in-awhile treat, I would suggest you try making your homemade ice cream with whole or 2% milk, perhaps even almond milk. *Nutritiondata.com is my go-to for nutrition info.

the fat from coconut milk is VERY healthy for us. it is a medium-chain fatty acid and has high percentage of lauric acid. coconut milk has similar benefits as human mother's milk as well. do a little research on that one before you knock it. i thought the same thing at first - and i was reluctant to put it into our diets. but i was so happy to learn of the health benefits. i also use coconut oil for cooking - for many of the same reasons.

I agree with adamswifey, coconut milk is good-for-you fats, like avacados. The "stats" don't look good on the surface, because we're trained to think saturated fats are bad for us. However, fats from coconut milk are not the same as fats from, say, hamburger.

The coconut milk I buy has same added cane juice (sugar) which I wish it would have less of, but I still think it is a good choice for a beverage or cooking.